We are undertaking a number of studies to investigate the relative efficacy of topical non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and capsaicin in osteoarthritis and neuropathic pain and to identify predictors of response.
These studies include:
- Conventional meta-analyses of placebo-controlled RCTs comparing treatment and placebo and overall treatment effects.
- Bayesian network meta-analysis comparing treatments via placebo.
- Individual Patient Data (IPD) meta-analysis to examine predictors of response.
- A pilot n-of-1 trial series to examine treatment effects, patient preferences, and predictors of response.

Monica S M Persson, Joanne Stocks, Aliya Sarmanova, Gwen Fernandes, David A Walsh, Michael Doherty, Weiya Zhang, Individual responses to topical ibuprofen gel or capsaicin cream for painful knee osteoarthritis: a series of n-of-1 trials, Rheumatology, Volume 60, Issue 5, May 2021, Pages 2231–2237, https://doi.org/10.1093/rheumatology/keaa561 [PDF]
Selected Conference Abstracts
EULAR Conference 2019
Persson M, Stocks J, Sarmanova A, Fernandes G, Varadi G, Hashempur MH, Haselen Rv, Walsh D, Doherty M, Zhang W. The Relative Efficacy Of Topical Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs And Capsaicin In Osteoarthritis: Moving From Average Treatment Effects To Individual Treatment Preferences Annals Of The Rheumatic Diseases 2019;78:513-514.